Making the move however can be made Real Simple with a comprehensive checklist for things to do before you move. A print-ready moving checklist cuts the work down to size, reminding you to label and pack these last: kettle, toilet paper, toiletries, towels, and bedding. But since toilet paper and cleaning necessities are never too far away at a supermarket, and char kway teow, satay, and chicken rice at your friendly neighbourhood hawker centre or kopi tiam are only an MRT stop or quick taxi ride away, there’s no real need to panic about not having packed utensils and washing-up liquid. And you can treat yourself and the family to a leisurely al fresco brunch after all the unpacking’s done.

Overseas relocation is acknowledged to be stressful, particularly when it disrupts social support systems (Fontaine, 1986), making it difficult for social support — interpersonal relationships which support individuals in times of stress (Cohen & McKay, 1984) — to play a protective role against psychological stress. While it can be daunting to find the right social network to help one settle in, supportive friendships can certainly be helpful in buffering stress at the new workplace and home.

Everyone extols the virtues of exercise and physical activity. The World Health Organisation recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigourous physical activity, for adults aged 18 to 64 years. But what are the real benefits of all that physical activity?

As it turns out, a number of studies report mental health benefits from workplace exercise intervention. Job performance and mood was better on days when employees exercised than on days when they did not, in a study of 201 office workers (Coulson & McKenna, 2008) published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management.

Significant improvements in stress levels, depression and anxiety scores, and physical health were observed for 73 employees who completed a brief 24-week workplace intervention involving both aerobic and weight-training exercise, compared to a waitlist control group (Atlantis, Chow, Kirby, & Singh, 2004).

Improved mood and physical health, greater job satisfaction, and fewer days of absence from work were observed for workers with corporate health and fitness club membership, compared to non-member workers from the same worksite (Daley & Parfitt, 2011).

A recent meta-analysis of 15 studies by Parks and Steelman (2008) has also demonstrated fewer days of absenteeism and better job satisfaction for employees with a corporate workplace wellness programme compared to control groups. Although comprehensive programmes comprising fitness and education about nutrition and/or stress management were implemented in 5 of the 15 studies, benefits were experienced across both comprehensive and fitness- or education-only programmes.

Exercise has also been shown to help individuals with depression. As Craft and Perner (2004) report, a meta-analysis of 80 empirical studies revealed significant improvement in depression scores for those recruited into an exercise intervention compared to controls (North, McCullagh, & Tran, 1990), even when depression was the primary not secondary medical condition (Craft & Landers, 1998) and when only randomized controlled studies were examined (Lawlor & Hopker, 2001).

So now that you’re convinced that exercise improves your quality of life and mental wellbeing, here are a few ideas…

And if you’re bored with the white-capped munias, pacific swallows, the families of long-tailed macaque monkeys, wild mushrooms and fungi, archduke butterflies and squirrels you get from strolls the Lower Peirce and Macritchie reservoir, you can try this kind of stroll!

The benefits of exercise to work productivity are well established. But newer findings suggest that engaging in hobbies can be just as helpful in promoting physical and emotional health. Some hobbies can even be profitable.

We know we should exercise. And we know how much we need to accomplish in a week. The gold standard for working adults aged 18 to 64 years is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigourous physical activity, as recommended by the World Health Organisation.

But what does exercise, particularly that at the workplace, achieve?

A vast number of studies point to the health benefits that directly result from exercise and physical activity. Corporate wellness programmes designed to improve workers’ physical activity and/or their diet through exercise or education on a one-to-one or group level, significantly reduce body fat — a risk factor for cardiovascular disease — in 31 random-controlled studies (Groeneveld, Proper, van der Beek, Hildebrandt, & van Mechelen, 2010).

Given that workplace fitness programmes result in lower risks for cardiovascular disease, the cost savings to organizations from having lower medical fees and insurance premiums are plain to see. And workplace fitness programmes not only improve anxiety and depression scores, but reduce absenteeism (Bhui, Dinos, Stansfeld, & White, 2008). In fact, for individuals with depression, a fitness programme lasting only 9 weeks of aerobic or strength/resistance training of varying intensity can bring about improvements in mental wellbeing and quality of life ratings (Craft & Perner, 2004).

So apart from making you healthier and your bosses happier, exercise makes you feel good.

Why? Well, current theory posits that exercise induces the release of endorphins which is associated with positive mood, effects an increase in temperature in specific brain regions resulting in muscle relaxation, and/or increases availability of mood-regulating neurotransmitters including serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenalin (Craft & Perner, 2004).

And physical activity is not confined to just aerobic and strength/resistance training. A 12-week-long poster and sticker campaign to get Swiss hospital staff to use the stairs brought about not only slimmer waists and the desired use of the stairs, but also reductions in body fat, BMI, HDL cholesterol, and blood pressure (Meyer, Kayser, Kossovsky, Sigaud, Carballo, Keller, Martin, Farpour-Lambert et al., 2010). A 6-months follow-up showed that while lift use had resumed — the stairs were sadly neglected — employees maintained their aerobic fitness and body fat.